Comments on: MBNA SPG (Starwood) Credit Card Review

By: Mark Bisson

Mark Bisson — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 17:17:59 +0000

I’m totally shock and disappointed with the annual fee. I have called SPG more than once with minor concerns and they have given me the Gold status for a year. Previously $30,000 would have compensated me with 15,000 points. The Gold status doesn’t cost SPG anything. A month ago we stayed at the Imperial Palace for $25.00 a night not a Sheraton property but it worked. Now SPG executives do the math $120.00 annually, I’m paying for your free night. I just book the Walt Disney Dolphin; it took years to accumulate the points. If I had a $120.00 annual fee it would have been cheaper to stay at the Disney’s value resorts. Thank you and goodbye Starwood.

By: Marc

Marc — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:36:08 +0000

One more year of SPG Starwood Credit Card?? Any thoughts? Looks like AMEX waved the first year annual fee…

You asked to be the first to know, and you can now apply for our richest Card offer, which includes
no annual fee for the first year.

Apply before 31 May 20101 and you can take advantage of this limited-time offer of 11,000 Bonus Starpoints® — enough for up to 3 free nights.2

You must apply for the Card using the Apply Now links in this email, and enter RSVP Code 11000 when prompted.

Along with incredible travel benefits, the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from
American Express gives you the fastest way to earn Starpoints on a Credit Card:
Earn more Starpoints faster — receive 1 Starpoint for every CDN$1 in purchases charged to the Card.3 That’s in addition to the Starpoints you earn at Starwood Preferred Guest hotels as an SPG member.
Receive a Free Weekend Night Award when you reach CDN$40,000 in purchases on the Card each year.4
Earn Gold Preferred Guest status when you reach CDN$30,000 in purchases on the Card each year.5
No annual fee on the Basic Card for the first year — a savings of CDN$120. And for an annual fee of only CDN$50 each, you can share the benefits of Card membership with someone close to you with a Supplementary Card and earn even more Starpoints. The annual interest rate is 19.99%.*
Receive travel and retail insurance protection such as Travel Emergency Assistance,6 Travel Accident Insurance7† and Car Rental Theft and Damage protection,8† and much more.
As always, Starwood Preferred Guest§ members will receive all the rich benefits of SPG, including free nights with no blackout dates at more than 940 hotels and resorts in over 93 countries around the world.9 And with SPG Flights, you can redeem Starpoints for airline tickets on more than 350 airlines, also with no blackout dates.10

By: Claiming Extended Warranty with Your Credit Card | Million Dollar Journey

Claiming Extended Warranty with Your Credit Card | Million Dollar Journey — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:31:03 +0000

[...] insurance package. One such card that comes to mind is my favorite free card of all time, the MBNA SPG credit card. This card gives a healthy 2-5% return on spending along with a comprehensive insurance package [...]

By: Marc

Marc — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:47:56 +0000

I received a letter from MBNA yesterday announcing their SPG card would be discontinued. I then did a quick web search looking to find out if the new SPG credit card for Canada had been announced. I found the following link where SPG announces that the new credit card for Canada will be from American Express. You can sign up to be informed of the new SPG Credit Card when the details are announced for Canada.

http://www.spgpromos.com/canada_creditcard/

The only benefits they are currently showing for the card are:

* 1 Starpoint earned for every CDN$1 in purchases charged to the Card
* Earn 10,000 Starpoints® — enough for up to three FREE nights

By: Marc

Marc — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:41:07 +0000

I received a letter from MBNA yesterday announcing their SPG card would be discontinued. I then did a quick web search looking to find out if the new SPG credit card for Canada had been announced. I found the following link where you can sign up to be informed of the new SPG Credit Card when it is announced for Canada.

http://www.spgpromos.com/canada_creditcard/

By: Elbyron

Elbyron — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:59:09 +0000

Charlie, did you not read the post just a bit above yours? The card is discontinued and existing cardholders will be cut off next February.

By: Charles Taub

Charles Taub — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:53:11 +0000

SPG Mastercard is the best.
1) Rate of return can be as high as 7% if you stick to catregory 1 and 2 . I have done this a few times.
2)Also if you have a spouse I suggest the following. Get one in each of your names. Husband to be a primary and wife to be a primary card holder.
In that way you can maximize 40,000 SPG points in year 1 on each of the accounts. ( This does not mean to add the spouse as a secondary card holder)
3) If the SPG account for the husband is short soem points, one can transfer spg points from the spouse at no charge. That is a heck of a feature.
4) If you book a hotel on points and cancel withinn 48 hours ,all of the points are credited back to your spg account. They do not charge for this.. This also a heack of a deal and felexibility)

Regards Charlie T.

By: MBNA SPG Credit Card Discontinued? | Million Dollar Journey

MBNA SPG Credit Card Discontinued? | Million Dollar Journey — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:30:15 +0000

[...] official folks, with great disappointment MBNA Canada has officially discontinued its popular Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Credit card (thanks to Nabeel for the heads up). For those of you who are fairly new to the blog, the MBNA SPG [...]

By: Nabeel Jafferali

Nabeel Jafferali — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:47:08 +0000

More info at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starwood-preferred-guest/990229-mbna-starwood-mastercard-no-more-points-can-earned-thru-feb-28-2010-a.html

By: Nabeel Jafferali

Nabeel Jafferali — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:18:35 +0000

This card has been discontinued. Existing cardholders will be able to earn points through to Feb 2010. SPG will supposedly announce a new Canadian CC relationship in the coming months.

By: The Trouble with Reward Points | Million Dollar Journey

The Trouble with Reward Points | Million Dollar Journey — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:31:03 +0000

[...] Editors Note: In my opinion, if you like to travel, the highest yield (no fee) rewards credit card in Canada is the MBNA SPG Mastercard. [...]

By: Travel Credit Cards | THINKchua

Travel Credit Cards | THINKchua — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:44:53 +0000

[...] is one calculation that people are holding up as the “correct” rewards rate claiming a 4.8% return, which is based on one hotel’s list price for a room calculated against the dollars spent to [...]

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 01:30:59 +0000

Good news for you FT and others wondering. The restrictions on Aeroplan has been lifted from my last recollection. You can now transfer points to it like you would any other program using your SPG points. If you do a search on RFD and read through the thread there you will most likely find confirmation of this. I think that’s where I got my info from.

By: Choosing a travel rewards program | Two Go Round-The-World

Choosing a travel rewards program | Two Go Round-The-World — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:46:12 +0000

[...] at Million Dollar Journey figures that the card, at best, can offer a 4.8% return on the money that you spend. Pretty [...]

By: FrugalTrader

FrugalTrader — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:10:53 +0000

Jay9, my understanding is that you can only transfer spg pts to aeroplan IF the points are accumulated via hotel stays. Points accumulated via credit card transactions are not transferrable due to VISA/CIBC’s relationship with Aeroplan.

By: Jay9

Jay9 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:48:06 +0000

Does the SPG rewards transfer to flight with Air Canada and Westjet?

By: Hussein

Hussein — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 01:31:18 +0000

I’ll let them know. Thanks for following up.

By: Hussein

Hussein — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 01:19:29 +0000

I looked at the MBNA site today, and they don’t advertise the car rental insurance anymore. My friends who were looking to open the account were told by a representative over the phone that there is no insurance included in the card. When I opened my account just over a year ago, the insurance was still a feature included in the card, and I also haven’t received any notification to say it’s not included anymore. I’ll let you know if I hear anything further.

By: FrugalTrader

FrugalTrader — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 01:17:21 +0000

Hussein, your friends must be applied for the regular spg card and not the platinum. Car rental insurance, purchase assurance, extended warranty all still apply to platinum cards.

Here is a summary of benefits for various levels of MBNA cards:
http://www.mbna.ca/credit_comparecards.html

By: FrugalTrader

FrugalTrader — Sun, 31 May 2009 20:28:10 +0000

Hussein, are you sure about that? I haven’t received any notice that they have withdrawn their insurance benefits. Perhaps it’s with the non-platinum version?